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Drought?

You know this drought is bad when it washes away the only bridge in and out of our village on the A28.....

Thank God its only a drought!

The garden is waterlogged and in standing water. Meanwhile, a half-drowned individual has just posted advisory leaflets through the neighbourhood letterboxes warning of dire consequences if we should even look at a hose, let alone get caught getting the garden hose out of the shed (I cannot get to it without waders!) and illustrated with a photo of parched and cracked soil which bears little resemblance to anything I have seen here of late but seems to have been taken somewhere near that P40 in the Saharan desert. He complained bitterly that he had had to make a 20 mile detour because of the swept away bridge, and couldn't understand why I laughed louder than my gurgling storm water drain.

We have plenty of water up North... we could sell you some Kielder is full to bursting and has been since it was built. No droughts here.

I might fill up my water pistol via my hosepipe....

Its been p*ssing down all day here (Newcastle upon Tyne, pretty much the centre) and my Girlfriend & myself had a water fight, two hosepipes, well three really, she had two...Just so we could annoy these Nancy Southerners. Nah not really, we didn't, but we could if we wanted to! But we do brush our teeth and leave the tap running because we have so much of it.

'Water, water everywhere but not a drop to spare...for the Southerners!'

Since the drought was announced we have had nothing but rain in Milton Keynes.
During the first week of the 'drought' I put together a fish pond we had got and used the hosepipe to fill it because I simply didn't believe the whole 'drought' thing.

As I've said in a couple of other threads, it will take a lot more than 3 weeks of rain to fix our goundwater problems which have come about after 2 years of below average rainfall.

We have two main issues... Groundwater (where the majority of our drinking water comes from) and river levels... We saw on the national news about fish rescues that were taking place due to rivers drying up. Those events really have happened. The recent rain has helped to ease that... I understand that rivers are pretty full again, as are a lot of our reserviours.

But the fact that we've seen flooding shows that the recent rain just isnt getting to the aquafers yet.... It will take a lot more water to re fill them. I know its an easy joke to make, what with this being the wettest drought on record, but if you just do a little bit of reading on the subject, you'll soon see why man parts of the country are still in drought with hosepipe bans in force.

As for water companies selling water to other companies... Its already happening.

Just out of interest EGTC.... Why don't you 'believe' it?.... Do you think they just decided to announce a drought for the fun of it?

Just out of interest EGTC.... Why don't you 'believe' it?.... Do you think they just decided to announce a drought for the fun of it?

To get more money out of the public, but have them consume less.
Honestly, MK hasn't been that dry so to be honest with you I didn't really buy into the whole drought thing.
As we have had rain every day for over a month now (except yesterday and today) the drought has been lifted around here, from my understanding. I guess they didn't need months and months of rainfall to solve the problem afterall.

To get more money out of the public, but have them consume less.
Honestly, MK hasn't been that dry so to be honest with you I didn't really buy into the whole drought thing.
As we have had rain every day for over a month now (except yesterday and today) the drought has been lifted around here, from my understanding. I guess they didn't need months and months of rainfall to solve the problem afterall.

How would announcing a drought get more money out of the public? Are you on a water meter? If you are, then implementing a hosepipe ban does the exact opposite to what you think it does.

VeeOne... There are two main issues. One has been an 'Environmental Drought' - Affecting wildlife in our rivers See Here

The other is a shortage on our groundwater supply. That is why you may hear that the drought status has been lifted but the hosepipe ban remains. The water you get out of the hosepipe almost certainly comes from groundwater.

Not much! our local shops got about 100 gallons of the stuff, It's not supposed to be sat on shelves, rain water/ ground water whats the difference?

Dont you just hate it when that happens... Spent 20mins trying to write an informative post just for it to be lost with the click of a button!

So, take 2! - Groundwater and rainwater - Generally speaking, rainwater remains above ground and flows to sea through rives or is stored in above ground reservoirs. However, some rain water does percolate down to become groundwater.

Groundwater is exactly that... Its water that is stored in underground aquifers - Most of our drinking water comes from this .

Most of the water you see on the shelves in shops is sold as 'mineral water'... This is ground water that has been 'filtered' naturally by stone, soil etc, and along the way, it has picked up lots of natural minerals. As with most ground water is is very old... Its been underground for thousands of years. Places like Buxton, in the peak district are sat on top how huge aquifers hence they are able to export so much water out of the region.

To bring it to an aviation theme... RAF Scampton and Waddington are both sat on top of drinking water aquifers (I think within zone 2 - close to the pump!). That means extra care has to be taken above ground... If there were to be a major fuel spillage on an airfield or a leaking underground tank then this would risk contaminating the groundwater. Thats a big problem as trying to remediate an groundwater aquifer is extremely difficult and very expensive (we're talking millions). Very often the first time a fuel station will know that they have a leaking tank is when fuel is detected in a sample of groundwater. That aquifer is then redundant until such time as it is remediated - if indeed it can be.

I sound like a tree hugger here, telling everyone to use water wisely... Believe me, I'm no tree hugger. I use the hose to water my garden, and wash my car (when there is no ban in force!) - I just know a little bit about it, and I know that drought warnings aren't issued for the fun of it, to inconvenience any one, or for making money (there are far easier ways for the government to do all of the above!)

So, take 2! - Groundwater and rainwater - Generally speaking, rainwater remains above ground and flows to sea through rives or is stored in above ground reservoirs. However, some rain water does percolate down to become groundwater.

Groundwater is exactly that... Its water that is stored in underground aquifers - Most of our drinking water comes from this .

Most of the water you see on the shelves in shops is sold as 'mineral water'... This is ground water that has been 'filtered' naturally by stone, soil etc, and along the way, it has picked up lots of natural minerals. As with most ground water is is very old... Its been underground for thousands of years. Places like Buxton, in the peak district are sat on top how huge aquifers hence they are able to export so much water out of the region.

So before we started selling the stuff what happend when all these underground caverns were full up, did that water not rise to the surface and flow into the river just like any other water?